How to get my career started?

[jnmatthews9614]

My name is Jason and I need some help on how I should get the ball rolling on my career.

I am currently attending community college in Southern California. I live with my parents so I don't have to worry about money at the moment. I am also not working at the moment but I used to work at a McDonald's (don't judge). I'm on my second year working on transferring to get my Bachelors in Computer Science. My goal is to get into Cal Poly Slo but that is a really hard school to get into for any engineering majors. I started my first major coursework this semester, which is Introduction to Computer Science.

I was wondering what the community thinks I should do. Should I resume my schooling without a job and focus on academics? Or, assuming I can deal with the workload of school and a part-time job, should I get a job? If you guys think a job is the better route, what kind of jobs should I be looking for that has anything to do with computers, and how do I get into the job with no experience and no degree? many jobs I've seen around here require 20+ experience, a Doctorates in Quantum Computing, and must be under 25 (I may be exaggerating a little).

Any help or experience will be appreciated!

 

[JQB45]

Its hard to find entry level IT/IS jobs which is exactly what I started my career with. But you are not going to find a part time IT role. The best you can hope for would be a part time office administrator, Clerical Support type person. It pays better then your avg. fast food place and may offer room for advancement as your educational skillset grows.

I am a self taught developer. I taught myself Visual BASIC in the 90's and by 2000 I had my 3rd entry level role as a VBA/Excel programmer / report runner. After that I moved to FL and took a role as an entry level DevOps IT/IS role which grew into a mid level position over the span of 3 years.

Once you get through most of your 2nd year of college I think you will find it much easier to find office work, report writing work, basic web work. But at that point you will need to decide if you can handle a fulltime role and college.

I then moved back to Ohio and started taking on mid level and now senior level programming roles as a C#/ASP.NET Web Developer. You can easily make 100k + cost of living if you stick to it and not get burned out by the work load.

 

[jnmatthews9614]

Its hard to find entry level IT/IS jobs which is exactly what I started my career with. But you are not going to find a part time IT role. The best you can hope for would be a part time office administrator, Clerical Support type person. It pays better then your avg. fast food place and may offer room for advancement as your educational skillset grows.

I am a self taught developer. I taught myself Visual BASIC in the 90's and by 2000 I had my 3rd entry level role as a VBA/Excel programmer / report runner. After that I moved to FL and took a role as an entry level DevOps IT/IS role which grew into a mid level position over the span of 3 years.

Once you get through most of your 2nd year of college I think you will find it much easier to find office work, report writing work, basic web work. But at that point you will need to decide if you can handle a fulltime role and college.

I then moved back to Ohio and started taking on mid level and now senior level programming roles as a C#/ASP.NET Web Developer. You can easily make 100k + cost of living if you stick to it and not get burned out by the work load.

Yea, I plan on moving up to Washington State and hopefully get a job with the bigger companies up there. Cost of living is relatively low (especially compared to California, can't find an apartment for under 1,000 a month where I live.) I plan on learning C++ and Java. And if everything goes according to plan I wouldn't be getting out of college until 2021 since I took the community college route which is a lot slower, and I had a rough start with other things going on so I withdrew a few classes making my trip longer.

Would you reccomend trying to get a job at one of the local computer repair shops? I've been looking at some near where I live and I figure I'd rather work there than another place that has nothing to do with computers.

 

[JQB45]

Thats an excellent idea. I have a friend in Dallas who worked in a used PC parts store. He was responsible for fairly pricing items, internet research, updating the companies PHP website, selling items on ebay.

He now works as a mid/entry level PHP developer at a real estate company in Dallas maintaining and updating their websites.

 

[jnmatthews9614]

Thats an excellent idea. I have a friend in Dallas who worked in a used PC parts store. He was responsible for fairly pricing items, internet research, updating the companies PHP website, selling items on ebay.

He now works as a mid/entry level PHP developer at a real estate company in Dallas maintaining and updating their websites.

Thanks for the response and input! I'd really like to work at one of them but I was either looking for reinforcement in that idea or other ideas. Thanks again for answering. If you can think of anything else I'll be keeping an eye on this post for a couple of weeks.

 

[Necromonger]

I am in a very very similar role to you OP. I am currently doing pre-engineering at the community college. I should be done this Spring (2016) with it as well. BTW I am also in SoCal!

I don't know how far you're in your pre-compsci classes / transfer, but I was working 40+ hours per week up until I started taking multivariable calculus, general physics 1 and general chemistry 1. Up until that point I was able to keep up with work and school but once I got into multi variable calculus, general physics 1, and gen chem 1 I could not take the stress. I dropped all but gen chem 1 that semester. I cut my hours again to 30(max) per week and reduced my schedule to only 2 classes per semester. Even then it proved very difficult doing linear algebra, english, intro to engineering, and general physics 2. This is where I lost my job as I tried to reduce my hours once again to 25.

It has been very rough for me. I ended up losing my job due to schedules interfering with work and they didn't want to cut my hours any more. I was doing quality assurance and I thought I was good at what I did, in fact I was the one that taught other quality assurance personnel how to use measuring equipment properly, how to use lab equipment, measure pH, and other lab work but that wasn't enough.

I've made it from late 2014 up until now without a job. I've been able to get money by fixing things as I am partly self taught in fixing electronics (other parts is thanks to electrical classes) and have a bit of background in automotive repair. Even with this it is still very tough and can't seem to get a good schedule for work. I am currently taking intro to comp sci, like you, engineering autocad, and the last of the general physics.

If you can find something you can do, like a hobby you're good at, try it. I usually do a couple of automotive repairs per month. Recently I did a brake job, 2 tune ups, and some audio installations and made enough for rent and my bills.

 

[jnmatthews9614]

I am in a very very similar role to you OP. I am currently doing pre-engineering at the community college. I should be done this Spring (2016) with it as well. BTW I am also in SoCal!

I don't know how far you're in your pre-compsci classes / transfer, but I was working 40+ hours per week up until I started taking multivariable calculus, general physics 1 and general chemistry 1. Up until that point I was able to keep up with work and school but once I got into multi variable calculus, general physics 1, and gen chem 1 I could not take the stress. I dropped all but gen chem 1 that semester. I cut my hours again to 30(max) per week and reduced my schedule to only 2 classes per semester. Even then it proved very difficult doing linear algebra, english, intro to engineering, and general physics 2. This is where I lost my job as I tried to reduce my hours once again to 25.

It has been very rough for me. I ended up losing my job due to schedules interfering with work and they didn't want to cut my hours any more. I was doing quality assurance and I thought I was good at what I did, in fact I was the one that taught other quality assurance personnel how to use measuring equipment properly, how to use lab equipment, measure pH, and other lab work but that wasn't enough.

I've made it from late 2014 up until now without a job. I've been able to get money by fixing things as I am partly self taught in fixing electronics (other parts is thanks to electrical classes) and have a bit of background in automotive repair. Even with this it is still very tough and can't seem to get a good schedule for work. I am currently taking intro to comp sci, like you, engineering autocad, and the last of the general physics.

If you can find something you can do, like a hobby you're good at, try it. I usually do a couple of automotive repairs per month. Recently I did a brake job, 2 tune ups, and some audio installations and made enough for rent and my bills.

That's cool! I'm currently going to Saddleback and IVC. Your plan is hard to apply to me because I don't have anything in regards to a skill or a hobby that I can sell really. I was thinking maybe once I learn quite a bit more code that I can start making small games but that's not for awhile and I doubt that'd bring in the big bucks. But at the same time I have the privilege of living with my parents while they pay for my schooling (even though I'd love to move out I think It's better to do it this way).